# Good Remakes Of Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789 "2010-07-24T00:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/1 "2010-07-24T00:12:00Z")
Inspired by the _Authur_ remake thread I’m not a movie buff so I can’t answer this, the only remake I liked was _Heaven Can Wait_ Almost all the other remakes I’ve seen have paled with comparison to the original. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/2 "2010-07-24T00:23:25Z")
Batman. The one with Adam West and Burt Ward was beyond bad. Ditto “Superman”. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/3 "2010-07-24T00:24:26Z")
I’ll nominate John Carpenter’s _The Thing_ (1982), as well as _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_ (1978). Perhaps horror and science fiction movies lend themselves better to remakes. Not that there haven’t been disappointments here too. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/4 "2010-07-24T00:29:40Z")
I thought Charlie and the Chocolate factory from Tim Burton was a lot better than the one with Gene Wilder, even though I like the original. Then again, they are both interpretations of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/5 "2010-07-24T00:36:27Z")
Cronenberg’s “The fly” is quite an excellent flic. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/6 "2010-07-24T00:37:58Z")
came in here to say The Fly and The Thing I am beaten ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/7 "2010-07-24T00:38:09Z")
From what I’ve heard, the first _Ocean’s Eleven_ (with Sinatra et al) was pretty dire. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/8 "2010-07-24T01:11:49Z")
Probably the best example – Huston’s **The Maltese Falcon** was the _third_ adaptation of the book of the same title, and was far and away the best. the 1939 **the Wizard of Oz** is definitely superior to previous treatments of L. Frank Baum’s work. Most people seem to think that **His Girl Friday** is superior to the original **The Front Page** with Adolphe Menjou. I’d argue the point, but there it is. A lot of later versions of films were superior to the original silent versions. **moby Dick** is, from all accounts, better than **The Sea Beast** , for instance. I’ll take the pageant of Cecil B. deMille’s remake of his own **The Ten Commandments** over the original, with its modern-day soap opera parallel story. Peter Jackson’s **Lord of the Rings** far outclasses Ralph Bakshi’s Although you can argue whether Jacksons **King Kong** is any better than the original, there’s no doubt that it’s better than the 1976 de Laurentiis version The recent musical version of **The Phantom of the Opera** is better than any previous version, except Lon Chaney’s 1925 silent version. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/9 "2010-07-24T01:12:34Z")
The Bogart version of **The Maltese Falcon** was better than either of the older films. **His Girl Friday** was superior to **The Front Page** ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/10 "2010-07-24T01:23:05Z")
_The Bounty_, I thought, was easily as good the other 2 movies. _The Quiet American_, was quite good. Maybe the first version was a little better or a little worse, but it’s hard to say. Hands down to _Lord of the Rings_, as has already been mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/11 "2010-07-24T01:49:35Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Batman. The one with Adam West and Burt Ward was beyond bad. Ditto “Superman”. I’ve got to disagree with you regarding Batman with Adam West; it’s a farce, and it’s terrific as far as I’m concerned, pure comedy gold. Besides which, the plot of that made for tv movie is in no way similar to the later Batman feature films other than the title. I’ll suggest 3:10 to Yuma as a superior remake. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/12 "2010-07-24T02:00:08Z")
I Am Legend was a pretty good reinterpretation of The Omaga MAn and The Last MAn on Earth. I am not Cruise Fan but War Of the Worlds was a good remake. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/13 "2010-07-24T02:04:39Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > I’ve got to disagree with you regarding Batman with Adam West; it’s a farce, and it’s terrific as far as I’m concerned, pure comedy gold. Besides which, the plot of that made for tv movie is in no way similar to the later Batman feature films other than the title. > I’ll suggest 3:10 to Yuma as a superior remake. Agreed on both cases. Chefguy- which Superman do you think was bad? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/14 "2010-07-24T02:36:49Z")
I’m quite partial to the remake of _The Italian Job_, but then I’m fond of mindless action movies without a lot of blood. (It’s a narrow sub-genre. ) I’m also not fond of movie conventions from that era. I like only a small percentage of the movies that were released during that time. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/15 "2010-07-24T03:24:51Z")
I prefer **Sorceror** over the original _Le salaire de la peur_, although I’m well aware that that’s a minority opinion. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/16 "2010-07-24T03:27:29Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > From what I’ve heard, the first _Ocean’s Eleven_ (with Sinatra et al) was pretty dire. It was a fun little movie, but the story isn’t very interesting and the guys are just kind of going through the motions. The 2001 version is one of the few remakes I can think of off the top of my head that was MUCH better than the original. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/17 "2010-07-24T03:27:50Z")
I liked both versions of The Parent Trap. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/18 "2010-07-24T03:40:32Z")
The original version of Cat People was pretty good, given the nature of its material and the fact that it was made during the Hayes Code era. But it had to leave so much to the imagination that it lost much of its punch and wound up being kinda unwatchable. But the remake was better, more powerful, though it made some missteps. Plus the score by Giorgio Moroder and Nastassia Kinski at her red-hot best were both outstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/19 "2010-07-24T04:21:28Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Agreed on both cases. > > Chefguy- which Superman do you think was bad? Ah hell, I was thinking of the George Reeves series on TV, and the old Batman series with the wool uniforms. ::slinks away:: ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789/20 "2010-07-24T04:28:15Z")
I liked the Pierce Brosnan film “Thomas Crowne Affair” so I rented the original and was surprised how bad it was. Also, FWIW, I usually think of a remake as a directors conscious attempt to redo a particular film, not a film around a pre-existing book that previous movies have also done adaptations of. So I don’t think a lot of the previous suggestions count. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-remakes-of-movies/547789.md?page=2)